Growing
They used to be so good
Last week they were perfect. Now they're ignoring you, pushing boundaries, and you feel like you're back to square one.
The moment
Two weeks ago Marlowe was settling beautifully, recalling on the first call, and sleeping like a dream. Now she looks at you when you call her name and walks the other way. She's mouthing again. She stole a sock and ran. You feel like all the work has been erased overnight.
What's actually happening
Welcome to regression. It happens to every puppy and it's not a sign that something went wrong. It's a sign that something is happening developmentally. Puppies don't progress in a straight line. They leap, plateau, regress, and leap again. Adolescence starts earlier than most people expect and brings a whole new set of challenges. The work you did isn't gone. It's buried under a developmental wave. It will resurface.
What we do
We don't panic. Regression is normal. We've seen it three times already and each time the other side was better than before.
We go back to basics. More structure, shorter wake windows, simpler activities. Not because she's 'bad' again but because her brain needs more support right now.
We increase the rate of reinforcement. If she was settling without treats, we go back to treating every settle. If recall was reliable, we go back to high-value rewards every time.
We lower expectations temporarily. If she was doing 90-minute wake windows, we drop back to 75 minutes. Meet her where she is, not where she was.
We document it. The regression will pass and when we look back, we'll see the pattern. That helps when the next one hits.